Redemption

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

                Darius woke before the sun was up. He checked his phone and saw it was just after five in the morning. His face had been buried in Viceroy’s thick fur, and after checking the time, he put his head back there, liking the warmth she offered. Finally, he felt Niki stirring behind him and cold air greeted his back.

                “Why’d you have to move?” Darius grumbled, sitting up himself. It seemed a bit lighter than before, but with all the trees blocking the sky, it was a little hard to tell.

                “We could just sit here all day,” Niki said. “Wait for someone to find us. We can place bets on whether they try to arrest us or just shoot us.”

                “Shoot us,” Darius said. “Definitely. So, you think we should call Barton?” The more he thought about it, the more that calling for help seemed to be their best option. All the other ideas were just as risky, if not more so,

                “Probably,” she said. “I mean, we’ve got to contact him at some point anyway because we sure as hell aren’t gonna be able to just march into the Anitreh building.”

                “What if we wear masks?” Darius jokingly suggested. “And dress Viceroy as a goat and Garm as an elk?”

                “We could probably walk in and surrender right away,” Niki said with a shrug. “They might not shoot us then, but I don’t think Barton’ll like having to deal with that mess. So, I’m calling him?”

                “Yeah,” Darius said with a sigh. “Might as well get it over with.”

                Niki didn’t pull out her phone, but instead a different device of a type Darius hadn’t seen in years. It was a simple phone with preprogrammed numbers. Niki hit one of the buttons and held it to her ear. Darius moved close enough to her so he could hear the ringing as well. They heard a click, followed by silence.

                “Commander Barton?” Niki asked.

                “Are you in trouble?” Barton’s voice came over the phone.

                “Yeah,” she said. “Both of us. We lost our vehicle and now we’re on foot somewhere near the Washington-Idaho border. I could give you coordinates – ”

                “Don’t,” he said. “Keep heading west. Call if you get another vehicle.”

                Barton hung up the phone and Darius certainly hoped that he would be sending help. Darius knew he probably couldn’t say he was going to help them, just as Niki hadn’t specified who she was with. But if he really was committed to helping him, Darius was sure that Barton would come through.

                Following Barton’s advice, they started walking again, still heading east towards Spokane. It was uneventful except for when Garm caught a few rabbits. He would have eaten them himself, but Niki made him share with Viceroy, who hadn’t even bothered to chase the animals.

                They’d been walking for nearly four hours when they were close to Spokane and they were about to run out of forest to hide in. They stopped to rest and also to figure out what they wanted to do next.

                “You think he’s coming?” Darius asked.

                “I hope so,” Niki said. “It’s been four hours. That’s how long it takes to drive here from Seattle. And then he’s gotta try to find us and there’s a lot of area for one guy to search.”